Current location in this text. Enter a Perseus citation to go to another section or work. Full search
options are on the right side and top of the page.

CA´BALIS

CA´BALIS (Καβαλίς, Καβαλλίς, Καβαλία: Eth.Καβαλεύς, Eth. Καβάλιοι), a people of Asia Minor. Herodotus (3.90) mentions the Cabalii in the same nome (the second) with the Mysi, Lydi, Lasonii, and Hygenneis.
He places the Milyeis in the first nome with the Lycians, Carians, and others.
In another passage (7.77) he speaks of “Cabelees the Maeonians” (ΚαβηλέεςοἱΜηίονες), and says that they are called Lasonii. Nothing can be got from these two passages. Strabo (p. 629) speaks of the Cibyratis and Caballis: in another place (p. 631) he says that the Cibyratae are said to be descendants of those Lydians who occupied the Caballis; and again, “they say that the Cabaleis were Solymi.” Strabo admits the difficulty of giving an exact account of this and some other parts of Asia, partly owing to the Romans not making their political divisions according to peoples, but adopting a different principle in determining their Conventus Juridici. Pliny (5.27) places Cabalia in the interior of Lycia, and names its three cities Oenoanda, Balbura, and Bubon; and Ptolemy (5.3) assigns the same three cities to Carbalia, which manifestly ought to be Cabalia. We thus obtain in a general way the position of Cabalia or Cabalis, if we can ascertain the sites of these cities, and they have been determined of late years [BALBURA; BUBON; OENOANDA].
The map which accompanies Spratt's Lycia places Balbura not far below the source of the Indus of Lycia, Bubon not far from the source of the Xanthus, and Oenoanda lower down on the same river. But Ptolemy has also Carbalia, that is Cabalia, in Pamphylia (5.5), to which he assigns many towns--Cretopolis, Termessus, and even a town Milyas; and Pliny again (5.32) makes a part of Galatia border on the Cabalia of Pamphylia. Stephanus mentions only a city Cabalis; though he quotes Strabo who, indeed, speaks of “Cibyra the great, Sinda, and Caballis,” and perhaps he means to say that there is a city Caballis. From all this confusion we can now extract the fact that there were three cities at least, which have been enumerated [p. 1.462]above, in the Cabalis or Cabalia; and we can make Strabo agree with Pliny and Ptolemy, by supposing that these three cities (Balbura, Bubon, and Oenoanda) which Strabo mentions, belonged to his territory Caballis, though he does not say that they did.
The connection of Cibyra with the towns of the Cabalis is explained under CIBYRA